Verse Lens · Context pointer
Isaiah 23:16 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 16. 16Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
The oracle concerning Zion and the nations introduces or commands “Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten” at Isaiah 23:16 as “Tyre's Seventy-Year Return Redirects Profit” develops.
Read It With
- Isaiah 23:15–18
Read Isaiah 23:16 with 23:15–18. By itself, “Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, historical horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: A forgotten city's song and renewed trade culminate in wealth portrayed as set apart for those dwelling before the LORD rather than stored.
Why It Needs Context
The verse is a premise, action, image, response, or transition within Isaiah 23:15–18, not an independent maxim. The oracle concerning Zion and the nations introduces or commands “Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten” at Isaiah 23:16 as “Tyre's Seventy-Year Return Redirects Profit” develops.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Isaiah 23:15–18 — Tyre's Seventy-Year Return Redirects ProfitSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Isaiah 23:15–18, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 23:15–18 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗